1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an apparatus for testing whether a fuel sold at a gas station is normal fuel and, more particularly, to a vehicle mounted type fuel testing apparatus which samples a portion of a fuel such as gasoline sold at a gas station and analyzes the constituents of the fuel using a UV (ultraviolet) spectrophotometer and/or an NIR (near infrared) spectrophotometer mounted to a vehicle, thereby determining whether the fuel sold at the gas station is normal fuel or not.
2. Description of the Prior Art
These days, as the price of oil goes up due to the oil crisis, a blended fuel has been used as a kind of alternative fuel. In the case of this blended fuel, since it is cheap and can be sold without generating a tax record, it is often the case that the blended fuel is abnormally sold at a gas station as if it were normal fuel. In order to supervise this transaction, it is necessary to sample the fuel sold at the gas station, test the fuel and determine whether the fuel is normal fuel. When it is determined that the fuel is a blended fuel, by banning the sale of the blended fuel, the use of the blended fuel can be prevented.
Generally, in the case of fuel sold at a gas station, in order to prevent the illegal intrusion of inexpensive petroleum products onto the market, it was obliged to add a marker of no less than a predetermined concentration into light oil-related oil products such as kerosene, a byproduct fuel, and the like, used in a vehicle. The light oil-related oil products having the marker added thereto are thus caused to emit a color, and then the spectrum of the color is analyzed using a UV spectrophotometer so as to test for the presence of the marker and identify the light-oil related oil product. Also, an NIR spectrophotometer used to determine the appropriateness of the fuel simultaneously measures the contents of aromatic compound, carbon, alcohol and benzel toluene and an octane number in the case of gasoline, and density, kinematic viscosity, distillation and a cetane number in the case of a light oil-related oil product, using a near infrared spectrum. The NIR spectrophotometer uses an improved indirect measurement method wherein, after the spectrum of a fuel sample from a vehicle is measured to be tested, the above-described items are calculated based on an already established calibration model using a computer depending upon spectrum absorptivity in a specific wavelength range.
For this measurement, in the conventional art, fuel is sampled from a gas station, and the constituents of the fuel are analyzed in a separate measurement room using the UV spectrophotometer and/or the NIR spectrophotometer to determine whether the fuel sold at the gas station is normal fuel or a blended fuel.
However, in order to test the fuel sample in the measurement room, a necessary amount of fuel must be purchased from the gas station. In this regard, under the law in force, the general public can purchase gasoline or light oil used in a Diesel vehicle only for the purpose of driving a car. Therefore, in order to obtain a fuel sample for the purpose of testing, it must be disclosed that the fuel sample will be used for analysis of its constituents. Therefore, in this case, because a gas station attendant will supply normal fuel instead of a blended fuel, it is difficult to attain the goal of preventing the use of the blended fuel.